Author Profile

Amber Garrison Duncan | Strategy Director, Lumina Foundation

Current Position and Past Experience
Amber Garrison Duncan is a Strategy Director at Lumina Foundation, where she leads a portfolio of work that supports the creation of a system where all learning can be validated and valued regardless of where it happens, and efficiently contribute to high-quality credentials. Lumina’s work in this area includes competency-based education, learning frameworks, assessment, credential recognition, and learner records, as well as quality assurance.

Garrison Duncan has 15 years of experience as a campus-based professional, where she led the design of co-curricular learning experiences and assessment. Before working at Lumina Foundation, Garrison Duncan served as the Director of Student Affairs Assessment and Research at the University of Oregon. This followed several leadership roles including Director of Family Programs and Commencement at University of Oregon, First-Year Experience Instructor at Florida State University and Intake and Investigations Coordinator at the University of Michigan.

Garrison Duncan’s research is focused on general education, assessment, innovation in student affairs, Latinas in higher education and women in leadership. She is the Co-editor of a book entitled Leading Assessment for Student Success: Ten Tenets That Change Culture and Practice in Student Affairs (Stylus, 2015). Garrison Duncan actively participates with several organizations including the Indiana Latino Education Summit Steering Committee and the Board of Directors for the Texas Woman’s University Foundation.

Education, Honors and Achievements
Garrison Duncan earned her BS in Psychology and Biology from Texas Woman’s University. She earned her MS in Educational Administration from Texas A&M University and her PhD in Educational Leadership from the University of Oregon.

Garrison Duncan has been recognized through awards given by the NASPA Latino Knowledge Community, Oregon Women in Higher Education, and ACPA.

Personal Details and Community Involvement
Garrison Duncan lives in Indianapolis with her partner John and two gladiator cats, Leonidas and Spartacus. Travel is a frequent pursuit and between the two of them, they have been to all but 1 state in the US and 16 countries.